USAir is adding two steps to its preflight refueling procedures after reports that nine of its planes had left airport gates with insufficient fuel aboard, a company spokesman said Friday. The airline is now instructing its gate agents to orally confer with the cockpit crew on how much fuel is aboard before the flight is turned over to the flight crew and the plane's door is shut, said spokesman Richard Weintraub.

Evidence recovered from the wreck of USAir Flight 427 cast doubt Tuesday on the theory that the jet crashed because its right engine was thrown into reverse. Federal investigators determined the devices that engage an engine's thrust reversers were not deployed on the right side of the Boeing 737-300, suggesting the engine was operating normally. The devices, called locking actuators, determine the position of other actuators that control the thrust reversers, a braking mechanism.